Transnational Ecologies: Visual Materials

In the early twentieth century, the English ecologist AG Tansley lamented the pervasive problem of the international misunderstanding of nature: “Workers in different countries use different names for the same thing and the same name for different things.” (New Phytologist, 1911, p. 273) In order to create some consensus concerning the concepts and language of ecological plant aimed to bring together leading plant geographers and other botanical experts from Europe and North America to explore together the vegetation of a particular host country. It was held first in the British Isles and the group traveled for 4 weeks in the month of August, 1911, ending up in Portsmouth for the meeting of British Association. The IPE became a thriving twentieth century institution (the last Excursion was held in Poland in 1989), meeting every two to four years in a different country, with its headquarters at the Geobotanical Institute of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich.

Transnational Ecologies is very pleased to be able to make some of the rare images of the 1911 IPE available to the public. With thanks to the British Ecological Society and Library of Congress which have generously allowed us to copy these images and now display them on the website, we hope the NiCHE community will find these photographs of interest. If you wish to copy or reproduce them yourself, please contact the BES or the Library of Congress for permission.

IPE 1911

A.G. Tansley of Cambridge, England seated, between F.E. Clements of Minneapolis, USA (left) and G.C. Druce of Surrey, England (right) on a boat trip during the 1911 International Phytogeographical Excursion of the British Isles.

[Henry Chandler Cowles of the University of Chicago Department of Botany, Frederic Edward Clements of the University of Minnesota, and members of the] International Phytogeographic Excursion in Europe at Truro, Cornwall, England.

From left to right: Dr. Oscar Drude and Mrs. Drude of Dresden, Germany with Mrs. Edith Clements of Minneapolis, USA (in Germany just prior to the 1911 IPE). Photographer FE Clements.

IPE 1913

Sir Arthur George Tansley and Mrs. Edith Tansley of Cambridge University at the University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
Credit: American Environmental Photographs Collection, [AEP-ILS428], Department of Special Collections, University of Chicago Library.

[Botanists Henry C. Cowles (left) botanist from the University of Chicago, and Professor Arthur. G. Tansley, botanist from Cambridge, England, studying leaf formations during the International Phytogeographic Excursion in America]. Chicago Daily News, Inc., photographer. CREATED/PUBLISHED [ca. 1913 Aug. 1]
SUMMARY
Portrait of botanists Henry C. Cowles (left) botanist from the University of Chicago, and Professor Arthur. G. Tansley, botanist from Cambridge, England, studying leaf formations near Lake Bluff, Illinois, during the International Phytogeographic Excursion in America. The Excursion was a scientific tour of significant natural environments in the United States by a visiting party of the leading European botanical experts of the time. The party reached Chicago on Aug. 1, 1913 and stayed for three days before continuing westward.
Credit: DN-0060959, Chicago Daily News negatives collection, Chicago Historical Society.

Sir Arthur George Tansley [of Cambridge University with an unidentified man on a University of Chicago Department of Botany field trip]
Credit: American Environmental Photographs Collection, [AEP-ILP236], Department of Special Collections, University of Chicago Library.

Images from the International Phytogeographic Excursion July-October 1913
digital collection: American Environmental Photographs
Credit: American Environmental Photographs Collection, [AEP-con4], Department of Special Collections, University of Chicago Library. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.award/icuaep.con4

University of Chicago Library, Special Collections Resource Center
digital collection: American Environmental Photographs
Credit: American Environmental Photographs Collection, [AEP-cop6], Department of Special Collections, University of Chicago Library.
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.award/icuaep.cop6

Images from the International Phytogeographic Excursion July-October 1913
digital collection: American Environmental Photographs
University of Chicago Library, Special Collections Resource Center. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.award/icuaep.inn103

Images from the International Phytogeographic Excursion July-October 1913
digital collection: American Environmental Photographs
Credit: American Environmental Photographs Collection, [AEP-ORP9], Department of Special Collections, University of Chicago Library.
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.award/icuaep.orp9

Images from the International Phytogeographic Excursion July-October 1913
digital collection: American Environmental Photographs
Credit: American Environmental Photographs Collection, [AEP-LIS55], Department of Special Collections, University of Chicago Library.
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.award/icuaep.ils55

Images from the International Phytogeographic Excursion July-October 1913; Unidentified site
digital collection: American Environmental Photographs
Credit: American Environmental Photographs Collection, [AEP-CAP23], Department of Special Collections, University of Chicago Library.
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.award/icuaep.cap23

Images from the International Phytogeographic Excursion July-October 1913
digital collection: American Environmental Photographs
Credit: American Environmental Photographs Collection, [AEP-ORP9], Department of Special Collections, University of Chicago Library.
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.award/icuaep.orp9

Images from the International Phytogeographic Excursion July-October 1913
digital collection: American Environmental Photographs
Credit: American Environmental Photographs Collection, [AEP-con4], Department of Special Collections, University of Chicago Library. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.award/icuaep.con4

Images from the International Phytogeographic Excursion July-October 1913; Unidentified site
digital collection: American Environmental Photographs
Credit: American Environmental Photographs Collection, [AEP-CAP23], Department of Special Collections, University of Chicago Library.
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.award/icuaep.cap23

Images from the International Phytogeographic Excursion July-October 1913
digital collection: American Environmental Photographs
Credit: American Environmental Photographs Collection, [AEP-COS302], Department of Special Collections, University of Chicago Library.
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.award/icuaep.cos302

Images from the International Phytogeographic Excursion July-October 1913
digital collection: American Environmental Photographs
Credit: American Environmental Photographs Collection, [AEP-CAP22], Department of Special Collections, University of Chicago Library.
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.award/icuaep.cap22